The Minister of Culture appointed Ksandra as the director of the technical museum

Prague - Minister of Culture Jiří Besser (for TOP 09) appointed Karel Ksandr today as the new director of the National Technical Museum in Prague (NTM). He is set to start on December 1.
    Ksandr will replace former director Horymír Kubíček, against whom the ministry has filed a criminal complaint based on audit results. Similar actions were taken against his economic deputy Oldřich Rambousek.
    "I know that a walk in the rose garden is not awaiting me. My first step will be to close myself off somewhere for two days, study all the audits, and look for a way out of this situation," Ksandr told ČTK immediately afterward. He does not perceive his previous position as deputy in the technical museum five years ago as a disadvantage, but neither as an advantage.
    "It makes my job easier in that I know the technical museum quite well, I am familiar with its operation and the structure of its collections. Not all employees may be pleased with that," added the new director. It is no secret that he is preparing a fundamental organizational change that is currently only on paper. "It must go through discussions with the museum's professional staff and the scientific council, which I will establish shortly after my arrival," Ksandr noted, who until this summer held the position of deputy of the National Museum for central collection-related and exhibition activities. He then became its chief conservator; he richly enjoyed the role last week during the opening of the grave of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe.
    "It was a work task accompanied by something extra. Meeting this personality was a unique experience precisely because the National Technical Museum cares for his most valuable sextants in its collections," he added.
    The new director's immediate task will be to make the museum accessible again after a four-year reconstruction. However, it will not be a one-time event - he intends to open the completed exhibitions gradually. "It is also part of the tradition of Czech museology. The best example is the building of the National Museum, which opened in May 1891 with only one exhibition. The others were added over time," he explained. He considers it important to attract visitors to Letná, as this institution has vanished from the museum landscape during the long reconstruction. According to the minister's vision, the museum could open in the first two months of next year.
    The selection process for the head of NTM at the beginning of November did not yield a clear winner. In the second-to-last round, a decision was made between Ksandr, lawyer Karel Kos, and architect Michal Crkva. The minister ultimately chose between Crkva, whom he considered a good economist, and Ksandr, who has experience in museology. Eventually, it is said that his more comprehensive vision for the reopening of the museum and his stance on the project in Plasy, where a center for construction heritage is being established, prevailed.
    According to information on the website of the National Museum, Karel Ksandr studied art history at Charles University. He focuses primarily on the history of architecture and heritage conservation. In the past, he has participated in research tasks in this field and is the author of several exhibition scripts and articles in professional publications.